Kentucky baseball (25-20, 10-14 SEC) was swept by Mississippi State (29-19, 10-14 SEC) as it fell 6-1 in the series finale.
With the loss, the Bat Cats have now lost four in a row and have been swept in the SEC for the first time this season.
In game one of the series, the two teams were in a tight game, but Mississippi State pulled away with an eight-run sixth that ultimately resulted in a 14-4 win.
Game two was the exact opposite as the offense was early-and-often as the score was knotted 5-5 through four innings, but the pitching took over after that in what turned out to by an 11-inning affair that the Bulldogs took 6-5.
The series finale picked up where game two left off as pitching ruled in the early going.
Ben Cleaver got the ball for game three and worked around a walk in the first before tossing a three-up, three-down second inning of work.
The third was an inning in which the lefty found himself in major trouble as a single, walk, and hit batter loaded the bases with no outs.
A fielder’s choice and sacrifice fly resulted in two outs, but also two runs for the Bulldogs.
The Bat Cats loaded the bases in third the same way the Bulldogs did in the third with a walk from Carson Hansen, single by James McCoy and Luke Lawrence being hit by a pitch.
Griffin Cameron cut the deficit to 2-1 on a sacrifice fly, but the Wildcats inability to hit with runners in scoring position cost them anymore runs in the fourth.
Cleaver worked two more scoreless innings before finding himself back in a jam in the sixth.
The left-hander gave up a single and walk to kick off the inning, which ended his afternoon.
Evan Byers was the first arm out of the bullpen, and he gave up a bunt single that loaded the bases before giving up a single to Joe Powell that brought home two more runs and extended the Bulldogs lead to 4-1.
Nick Mingione came out of the dugout once again, this time to take out Byers in place of Cole Hentschel, who got a groundout, but it resulted another run for the Bulldogs as they finished the sixth with 5-1 lead.
Kentucky had a golden opportunity to make up some ground in the seventh as Devin Burkes and Ryan Schwartz both reached in one-out pinch-hitting appearances, but Tyler Bell and Cole Hage were retired to end the threat.
Jackson Nove came on and gave up two singles along with a hit batsman to load the bases with no outs.
Ehtan Walker was called upon to work out of the mess and only gave up a sacrifice fly that extended the Bulldogs lead to 6-1.
The offense was unable to get going and was held off the board after the fourth.
In the game, Kentucky finished 6-28, which is a .214 average. The Bat Cats struggled mightily with runners in scoring position in the series, but particularly in game three, where it went 0-8.
Following the loss, Kentucky will get a bit of a breather before retaking the field for a three-game set at Kentucky Proud Park against No. 21 Oklahoma with first pitch of game one set for Friday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m. ET.
